Hip To Be Square

Mrs. Ant, New York/Jamaica Age and Occupation: 25, PhD Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Finance Engagement Date: July 26, 2005 Wedding Date: November 18, 2006 Blogging Since: February 15, 2006 Venue: Rockhouse Hotel About Me: I live in New York but I'm planning a destination wedding in Negril, Jamaica. My fiance and I are high school sweethearts!

August 7th, 2006 @ 11:06 am by Mrs. Ant

Our invitations are sensationally square.

But being unconventional and different came at a (small) price…

Our cards themselves are 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 squares. Much to my “amusement,” the thick, ribbon-wrapped cards didn’t fit inside the 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 envelopes I originally planned on using- there just wasn’t enough give. Brilliant foresight on my part.

Apparently, I needed to idiot-proof the process. So I headed to Jam Paper, a specialty envelope and paper products store in Manhattan. They have a 7000 square foot superstore located at 135 3rd Avenue, between 14th and 15th streets- just around the corner from Union Square and Gramercy.

Look at all the different square envelopes that they offer! They also have fancier square envelopes that are made of linen, stardream metallics, or translucent plastic. And, of course, non-square envelopes.

I went in with a sample invite in tow, tried out a few different envelopes, and then decided on 7 x 7 square envelopes that worked perfectly. I went home in a particularly cheerful mood! But maybe stopping by the new “Willy Wonka worthy” store Chocolate by the Bald Man also had something to do with it.

~ ~ ~

Being square automatically subjected my invitations to a surcharge. The total cost came out to $0.52 per invite. But I ended up paying a bit extra at $0.63 per invite because I had my heart set on these Disney Romance and Common Buckeye stamps.

Unlike Miss Spider, I had a great experience at the FDR Station Post Office. The Post Office is huge, there are always several windows open, and I only had to wait about 15 minutes on line! I used to live just 2 blocks away, and I have never had to wait long on line there.

On top of that, the people who work there are very helpful. The lady who sold me stamps was sweet, patiently showing me all sorts of stamps and helping me figure out what combination was best. She even explained, without my asking, that I could get our invites hand canceled at a different window. Then, as I was stationed at a counter applying the stamps, another worker came over to fawn over the invitations and she also offered the same information without my asking!

FDR Station Post Office is located at 909 3rd Avenue between 54th and 55th, 2nd floor up the escalators. Go directly to Window #4 (the information window) for hand cancelling. That’s right, you don’t need to wait on line if your invitations are ready for mailing!

It’s not easy being square. But it’s worth it!

7 Responses to “Hip To Be Square”

Miss Lily says:

I am saving this info– thank you! It’s good to know where they hand cancel for when I need it!

8/7/06 at 11:11 am (reply)

dingbatkim says:

yay, your invitations are done! i’ll be mailing mine out today (scary!). i had a tough time w/ my square invitations as well. we had ribbons tied on that were getting stuck in the envelope. we loaded them in from the top so if you were to pull the invitation out, the ribbon would get stuck. figures since we added evenlope lining too. so we decided to turn the envelope and load in the invitations from the side. problem solved. hopefully, no one will think it’s strange that we loaded them this way but it was the only way the ribbon would stay with the invitation.